by Jo Nesbo.
This is the first book in the mystery series about Harry Hole, a Norwegian police officer. The books have been very popular so I thought I would try one.
Surprisingly, this first book is set in Australia, not Norway. Harry has been sent to Australia to participate on a police investigation into the strangulation of a Norwegian girl who was living in Australia. Harry is puzzled when he is met at the airport by an Aboriginal police officer who said he asked to work on this case with Harry.
The officer takes him to a circus performance and shows him a few sites in Australia. In the course of the investigation Harry also meets a boxer, and several less than desirable characters. He also meets a young Swedish woman and becomes romantically involved with her.
Harry has a troubled past, he was driving a police vehicle, drunk, while on duty.. This resluted in the death of his partner and disabling of a young child in another vehicle. He avoids alcohol.
As the investigation proceeds it is decided that the murder may have been the work of a serial murderer. Several suspects are investigated with no arrests. Harry and his friends try some very unprofessional things to get information. They suspect a clown may have been the murderer, he is found brutally murdered, and the Aboriginal police officer is found hung in the clowns home. It is discovered that the police officer was a heroin addict but further investigation proves that he was murdered.
Harry is supposed to return to Norway but instead engages in an ongoing drunken binge, while trying to work on his own to solve the crimes.
Harry tries to catch the person he is convinced is the murdering by asking his girlfriend to participate in a setup. He is wrong about his suspect and she ends up losing her life.
I found the first half of the book slow to get going and get my interest, but by the mid-point it became an interesting, action-packed, if some what depressing story.
I enjoyed it, but I am puzzled as to why the author would start the first book in the series in Australia, rather than Norway. Perhaps the author and publisher felt the exotic locale would be appealing.
Monday, 7 January 2013
Thursday, 3 January 2013
The Stockholm Octavo
by Karen Engelmann
This is a book that caught my eye while I was browsing at Chapters.
It takes place in the 1790's in Stockholm. It is the story of a young Customs Agent who frequents a gambling parlour hosted by a woman who also reads cards. He is worried because his boss insists he get married, or lose his job. His boss is convinced that he must be married to be "responsible" and mature. He confides in the host of the card parties and she says she has had a vision for him and offers to read his cards. Each night for eight nights he comes to her place and they work to find the eight cards of the Octavo that will describe his future.
As the young man tries to figure out who the people identified in the cards are in his life, he becomes involved in a spat between the card reader and another woman over a beautiful, possibly powerful fan. Fans are considered not only a fashion item but a sign of status and also a way for women to overpower men. At this time there are forces working to defeat the current king, the two women are on opposite sides of this issue, one is working for the king, the other actively against him. One of the women will stop at nothing, including murder, to achieve her goals. As the story progresses a couple of other young women enter the story as do two french brothers, master fanmakers, who have escaped from France because of the turmoil their.
Through all the political intrigue and quest for the powerful fan, the young man works to identify his future.
It was an interesting story, for the unique setting and time period. The author did a great job of developing the story and keeping it interesting until the end. I enjoyed it.
This is a book that caught my eye while I was browsing at Chapters.
It takes place in the 1790's in Stockholm. It is the story of a young Customs Agent who frequents a gambling parlour hosted by a woman who also reads cards. He is worried because his boss insists he get married, or lose his job. His boss is convinced that he must be married to be "responsible" and mature. He confides in the host of the card parties and she says she has had a vision for him and offers to read his cards. Each night for eight nights he comes to her place and they work to find the eight cards of the Octavo that will describe his future.
As the young man tries to figure out who the people identified in the cards are in his life, he becomes involved in a spat between the card reader and another woman over a beautiful, possibly powerful fan. Fans are considered not only a fashion item but a sign of status and also a way for women to overpower men. At this time there are forces working to defeat the current king, the two women are on opposite sides of this issue, one is working for the king, the other actively against him. One of the women will stop at nothing, including murder, to achieve her goals. As the story progresses a couple of other young women enter the story as do two french brothers, master fanmakers, who have escaped from France because of the turmoil their.
Through all the political intrigue and quest for the powerful fan, the young man works to identify his future.
It was an interesting story, for the unique setting and time period. The author did a great job of developing the story and keeping it interesting until the end. I enjoyed it.
Sunday, 16 December 2012
An Ice Cold Grave
by Charlaine Harris,
This is the first in a new series by the author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. In this series Harper Connolly, a victim of a lighten strike, has the ability to sense the dead and the cause of their death. She is summoned to Doraville, N.C. by a reluctant but desparate Sherrif. Six young boys have gone missing. The previous Sherrif seemed to think the boys had run away but boys keep disappearing.
Harper is given tips on a few places near where the young people were seen prior to their deaths, including where vehiles have been found. They eventually go to a barn on an abandoned property and she senses not six but eight bodies. The authorities are stunned by the news and the accuracy of her work.
Harper is devastated by the number of deaths and the amount of pain the boys suffered prior to their deaths. She wants to get paid and get out of town. However, she is attacked outside her motel by an unknown assailant and ends up in the hospital. When she is released from hospital she is asked to stay in town for the memorial service for the boys and agrees to do it.
She wants to leave town but then goes to another location where animal deaths were sensed but now she senses a human body and discovers a den with a victim, still alive, who is chained up and a local boy, who was accused of the animal murders, has committed suicide. His father is arrested but Harper thinks he must have had an accomplice to help him overpower the boys. The police agree that there probably was another criminal involved. Harper's hunch is right and the other man captures her and tries to kill her.
This was an okay mystery, it wasn't terribly engaging and the story of the pedophilia bothered me, it seems to be a very frequent story in books and tv crime shows these days. I am not sure that I would bother reading any others in this series, there wasn't really anything unique or appealing.
This is the first in a new series by the author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. In this series Harper Connolly, a victim of a lighten strike, has the ability to sense the dead and the cause of their death. She is summoned to Doraville, N.C. by a reluctant but desparate Sherrif. Six young boys have gone missing. The previous Sherrif seemed to think the boys had run away but boys keep disappearing.
Harper is given tips on a few places near where the young people were seen prior to their deaths, including where vehiles have been found. They eventually go to a barn on an abandoned property and she senses not six but eight bodies. The authorities are stunned by the news and the accuracy of her work.
Harper is devastated by the number of deaths and the amount of pain the boys suffered prior to their deaths. She wants to get paid and get out of town. However, she is attacked outside her motel by an unknown assailant and ends up in the hospital. When she is released from hospital she is asked to stay in town for the memorial service for the boys and agrees to do it.
She wants to leave town but then goes to another location where animal deaths were sensed but now she senses a human body and discovers a den with a victim, still alive, who is chained up and a local boy, who was accused of the animal murders, has committed suicide. His father is arrested but Harper thinks he must have had an accomplice to help him overpower the boys. The police agree that there probably was another criminal involved. Harper's hunch is right and the other man captures her and tries to kill her.
This was an okay mystery, it wasn't terribly engaging and the story of the pedophilia bothered me, it seems to be a very frequent story in books and tv crime shows these days. I am not sure that I would bother reading any others in this series, there wasn't really anything unique or appealing.
Monday, 10 December 2012
I am Half-Sick of Shadows
by Alan Bradley,
This is a book in the mystery series about the precocious little British girl Flavia de Luce. This is the fourth book that I have read in the series, and will probably be the last. The books still seem to be receiving acclaim but I get more disappointed with each one I read.
I found the first one fun and interesting, both the character of the little girl and the setting were interesting and novel. The second was okay, and the third was, in my opinion even weaker. I picked up the fourth one because I wanted a Christmas story read but again I was disappointed.
Not much happens in the story - the murder doesn't occur until past the halfway point of the story. I was ready to say.... kill somebody already! so the story gets some action and intrigue. The mean sisters and the disinterested father who is drowning his fear about losing his home in his passion for stamps, are running thin as storylines. The story just happened to take place at Christmas but could have taken place anytime. I was hoping for more of a Christmas theme, poisoning with some sort of Christmas product, or something like that... but none of it happened.
I think i will try Dicken's Christmas Carol next, I am sure it will be more engaging.
This is a book in the mystery series about the precocious little British girl Flavia de Luce. This is the fourth book that I have read in the series, and will probably be the last. The books still seem to be receiving acclaim but I get more disappointed with each one I read.
I found the first one fun and interesting, both the character of the little girl and the setting were interesting and novel. The second was okay, and the third was, in my opinion even weaker. I picked up the fourth one because I wanted a Christmas story read but again I was disappointed.
Not much happens in the story - the murder doesn't occur until past the halfway point of the story. I was ready to say.... kill somebody already! so the story gets some action and intrigue. The mean sisters and the disinterested father who is drowning his fear about losing his home in his passion for stamps, are running thin as storylines. The story just happened to take place at Christmas but could have taken place anytime. I was hoping for more of a Christmas theme, poisoning with some sort of Christmas product, or something like that... but none of it happened.
I think i will try Dicken's Christmas Carol next, I am sure it will be more engaging.
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Wings of Fire
by Charles Todd
I'm on a Charles Todd reading marathon...
This is the second book by a mother/son duo about the British Inspector Ian Rutledge. I have now read the first four books in the series. The first one that I read, a number of years ago,was the fourth book in the series, Watchers of Time.. I really enjoyed that one. I was intrigued by the writing and the ghost of a dead soildier who haunts the main character constantly.
I read the third book in the series, Search the Dark, last week. I found it a real chore to read.... it just didn't grab me.
It was with some trepidation that I started to read this book, the second one in the series, after my reaction to the third one. However, my interest and delight in this series was renewed. I found this book fascinating and hard to put down.
A criminal, being likened to Jack the Ripper, is terrorizing London. Rutledge's boss wants to get rid of him so that he(the boss) can track down the serial murderer and get the credit for solving the crime. Rutledge is sent off to Cornwall to investigate what have been described as a dual suicide and an accidental death. A family member is convinced that something is suspicious with these deaths.
No one seems to think that there is anything suspicious about the deaths, no one in the village seems to know anything and no one seems to want to talk if they do. The local police want Rutledge to find nothing is wrong and leave quickly. However, Rutledge finds that there have been several deaths, disappearances and apparent suicides in the family. He feels compelled to get to the truth about them before he can make a decision about the recent deaths.
Rutledge is surprised to learn that one of the two suicide victims is a famous poet, a writer of powerful poems including many about the war. He is very familiar with some of the poet's work and is surprised that the poet is a women given the power and subject nature of her poems.
After speaking to many family members and neighbours, and reading the poems, Rutledge becomes convinced that there is a serial murderer in or after the family, but all he has is hunches, no proof, no evidence from witnesses. All the people of the village are angry at the history he is digging up including the woman who originally requested that Scotland Yard come and investigate. It is following his intuition and by ferreting out little clues in the poems and little tidbits from witnesses that he is able to identify the murderer. I found this cerebral/deductive case very engaging right to the end.
I'm on a Charles Todd reading marathon...
This is the second book by a mother/son duo about the British Inspector Ian Rutledge. I have now read the first four books in the series. The first one that I read, a number of years ago,was the fourth book in the series, Watchers of Time.. I really enjoyed that one. I was intrigued by the writing and the ghost of a dead soildier who haunts the main character constantly.
I read the third book in the series, Search the Dark, last week. I found it a real chore to read.... it just didn't grab me.
It was with some trepidation that I started to read this book, the second one in the series, after my reaction to the third one. However, my interest and delight in this series was renewed. I found this book fascinating and hard to put down.
A criminal, being likened to Jack the Ripper, is terrorizing London. Rutledge's boss wants to get rid of him so that he(the boss) can track down the serial murderer and get the credit for solving the crime. Rutledge is sent off to Cornwall to investigate what have been described as a dual suicide and an accidental death. A family member is convinced that something is suspicious with these deaths.
No one seems to think that there is anything suspicious about the deaths, no one in the village seems to know anything and no one seems to want to talk if they do. The local police want Rutledge to find nothing is wrong and leave quickly. However, Rutledge finds that there have been several deaths, disappearances and apparent suicides in the family. He feels compelled to get to the truth about them before he can make a decision about the recent deaths.
Rutledge is surprised to learn that one of the two suicide victims is a famous poet, a writer of powerful poems including many about the war. He is very familiar with some of the poet's work and is surprised that the poet is a women given the power and subject nature of her poems.
After speaking to many family members and neighbours, and reading the poems, Rutledge becomes convinced that there is a serial murderer in or after the family, but all he has is hunches, no proof, no evidence from witnesses. All the people of the village are angry at the history he is digging up including the woman who originally requested that Scotland Yard come and investigate. It is following his intuition and by ferreting out little clues in the poems and little tidbits from witnesses that he is able to identify the murderer. I found this cerebral/deductive case very engaging right to the end.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
The Confession
by Charles Todd
After 419 I had to read something I knew I would enjoy so I have returned to one of my favourite mystery authors.
This is another of the stories about Inpsector Rutledge, an Inspector with Scotland Yard who is suffering post traumatic stress as a result of his experiences in WWI.
Rutledge is approached by a young man who is dying. The man claims that he murdered another man in 1915 and he wants to confess before he dies. Rutledge doesn't arrest the man but goes to the village the man is from to see what he can find out. He is given a very hostile reception by all the townspeople. What are they hiding.
A few days later the young man is found dead in the river, he had been shot in the back of the head. Rutledge finds out that the young man is not who he claimed to be, he is another person from the same village.
As Rutledge tries to figure out why the young man would lie about his identify and confess to a murder, when there is no evidence that the person named has been murdered, he learns about a mother who has disappeared years before, without a trace, leaving her son and two young people she had taken into her care, all alone. The family home has been abandoned.
Rutledge than learns that the parents of the young man the women "adopted" were violently murdered and the young boy was also attacked at the time but survived. Rutledge learns that the imposter was writing novels about the town which could upset people in the town and two of the people he would like to interview in regards to the supposed murder (including the alleged victim) are reported as deserters by the military. Many of the young men seem to have affection for the young women who was "adopted". Could jealousy have driven one of the young men to murder?
Rutledge has to place a false story, about the death of one of the key characters, to get to information that leads him closer ot the truth. It is only because of thorough police work investigating the murders of the young boys famuly that Rutledge is able to figure out the truth. The murderer is a person he would never have suspected, nor any of the villagers. It turns out a young man, who thinks he is the son/heir of the first murdered man (the "young boy's" father) has been exacting revenge for his perceived ill fortune slowly and methodically.
As always, these books are filled with interesting characters, and many twists and turns. However, there were so many young men of a similar age involved in this that I had trouble keeping them all straight. The authors (a mother and son duo writing under the pend name) do a great job of depicting England after WWI. Interestingly, Hamish, the ghost of a dead soldier who haunts Rutledge, doesn't have too much to say in this story.
After 419 I had to read something I knew I would enjoy so I have returned to one of my favourite mystery authors.
This is another of the stories about Inpsector Rutledge, an Inspector with Scotland Yard who is suffering post traumatic stress as a result of his experiences in WWI.
Rutledge is approached by a young man who is dying. The man claims that he murdered another man in 1915 and he wants to confess before he dies. Rutledge doesn't arrest the man but goes to the village the man is from to see what he can find out. He is given a very hostile reception by all the townspeople. What are they hiding.
A few days later the young man is found dead in the river, he had been shot in the back of the head. Rutledge finds out that the young man is not who he claimed to be, he is another person from the same village.
As Rutledge tries to figure out why the young man would lie about his identify and confess to a murder, when there is no evidence that the person named has been murdered, he learns about a mother who has disappeared years before, without a trace, leaving her son and two young people she had taken into her care, all alone. The family home has been abandoned.
Rutledge than learns that the parents of the young man the women "adopted" were violently murdered and the young boy was also attacked at the time but survived. Rutledge learns that the imposter was writing novels about the town which could upset people in the town and two of the people he would like to interview in regards to the supposed murder (including the alleged victim) are reported as deserters by the military. Many of the young men seem to have affection for the young women who was "adopted". Could jealousy have driven one of the young men to murder?
Rutledge has to place a false story, about the death of one of the key characters, to get to information that leads him closer ot the truth. It is only because of thorough police work investigating the murders of the young boys famuly that Rutledge is able to figure out the truth. The murderer is a person he would never have suspected, nor any of the villagers. It turns out a young man, who thinks he is the son/heir of the first murdered man (the "young boy's" father) has been exacting revenge for his perceived ill fortune slowly and methodically.
As always, these books are filled with interesting characters, and many twists and turns. However, there were so many young men of a similar age involved in this that I had trouble keeping them all straight. The authors (a mother and son duo writing under the pend name) do a great job of depicting England after WWI. Interestingly, Hamish, the ghost of a dead soldier who haunts Rutledge, doesn't have too much to say in this story.
419
by Will Ferguson
This book won the Giller Prize this year. My question is WHY?
I found this book ridiculous and had to force myself to finish it. The end of the book is even ridiculous and totally unbelievable. It's like the author thought, how many ugly, stupid things can I put in one book and get away with it.
The story starts with the suicide of a retired man in Calgary. He has fallen for a Nigerian scam and mortgaged his house and savings. He has taken out an insurance policy just prior to his death but the insurance company refuses to pay because of the suspicion of suicide. The police look at his email messages and confirm that the man has been taken, and was being threatened by the Nigerian crooks.
The man's son takes revenge by joining a group of people who track and torment these 419ers. The daughter goes to Nigeria to confront the con artist.
Meanwhile there are side stories:
- about an Independent 419 operator who is forced to become part of a syndicate and turn over most of the money he makes to them;
- about Nigeria being exploited and polluted by foreign oil companies, and
- a young villager who first gets a job working with the oil companies and who later works with thugs to steel the oil. He also gets involved with a crook who is taking a tanker of stolen oil to sell it for a profit. They encounter a young pregnant girl along the road and the young man decides to try to help and protect her. His mother won't let him stay with her in their family village so she sends him to see a cousin in Lagos for assistance... with disasterous results.
The Canadian woman is able to track down her father's con man and get some money out of him. However, the young villager ends up getting murdered because he isn't successful in killing her. She gets out of Nigeria, more through dumb luck then intelligence but is harrassed in Canada, her mother doesn't want any of the money she recovers so she sends it to the pregnant women who was brefriended for the care of her child.... She knows the identity of her con man but hasn't turned him into the authorities... why not??? The good guys are killed, the bad guys don't receive justice.... The whole thing is preposterous!!!
I have seen positive reviews of this book.... I don't understand its appeal.
This book won the Giller Prize this year. My question is WHY?
I found this book ridiculous and had to force myself to finish it. The end of the book is even ridiculous and totally unbelievable. It's like the author thought, how many ugly, stupid things can I put in one book and get away with it.
The story starts with the suicide of a retired man in Calgary. He has fallen for a Nigerian scam and mortgaged his house and savings. He has taken out an insurance policy just prior to his death but the insurance company refuses to pay because of the suspicion of suicide. The police look at his email messages and confirm that the man has been taken, and was being threatened by the Nigerian crooks.
The man's son takes revenge by joining a group of people who track and torment these 419ers. The daughter goes to Nigeria to confront the con artist.
Meanwhile there are side stories:
- about an Independent 419 operator who is forced to become part of a syndicate and turn over most of the money he makes to them;
- about Nigeria being exploited and polluted by foreign oil companies, and
- a young villager who first gets a job working with the oil companies and who later works with thugs to steel the oil. He also gets involved with a crook who is taking a tanker of stolen oil to sell it for a profit. They encounter a young pregnant girl along the road and the young man decides to try to help and protect her. His mother won't let him stay with her in their family village so she sends him to see a cousin in Lagos for assistance... with disasterous results.
The Canadian woman is able to track down her father's con man and get some money out of him. However, the young villager ends up getting murdered because he isn't successful in killing her. She gets out of Nigeria, more through dumb luck then intelligence but is harrassed in Canada, her mother doesn't want any of the money she recovers so she sends it to the pregnant women who was brefriended for the care of her child.... She knows the identity of her con man but hasn't turned him into the authorities... why not??? The good guys are killed, the bad guys don't receive justice.... The whole thing is preposterous!!!
I have seen positive reviews of this book.... I don't understand its appeal.
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